Above the sky.
In the most distant reaches of the plane, a black-red vortex slowly appeared.
However, this did not mean that the Endless Abyss had fully entered this world.
In fact, the main body of the Endless Abyss was still far away in terms of straight-line distance from this world.
Yet, it was important to note that even though the Endless Abyss itself had not arrived, its influence—its chaotic low-dimensional distortions—had already begun to manifest here.
For instance, in a dense and flourishing green jungle, a black, putrid blotch suddenly appeared…
This blotch, exuding a stench of rot and decay, clashed horrifically with the surrounding beauty, like a malignant tumor on a human body—an indelible, incurable growth.
Along with this blotch, a nauseating, hate-inducing odor began to spread outward, permeating the entire jungle.
The first victims were the smallest creatures, whose senses were extremely acute.
"Squeak! Squeak!"
The moment the stench swept over them, these small creatures immediately exhibited terrifying abnormal behavior.
They began killing each other.
Two creatures, their upper bodies like rats and lower bodies like mice (dog-headed), bared their teeth—normally used to gnaw plants—and lunged at one another, eyes glowing red with bloodlust.
These once-docile animals had, for some unknown reason, developed a desire to destroy everything.
But it wasn't just them. All sentient creatures in the jungle began a horrifying mutation, one that started in the soul and only ended with the destruction of their bodies.
Former prey turned violent, attacking their predators, while the predators themselves became even more frenzied, killing indiscriminately driven not by hunger but by a pure desire for slaughter.
Unnoticed, even the plants—once considered mere food—began terrifying transformations.
More and more plants started using their roots to absorb the blood of the fallen creatures.
The most extreme among them even attempted to actively hunt the still-living creatures using their now-animated roots.
---
"Invasion has begun…"
At the bottom of the Endless Abyss, Chu Hao continued parsing the crystal-wall rules of this world while establishing a spatial channel linking the two worlds.
He simultaneously observed everything in this world through his consciousness.
"A relatively strong world…"
"A single planet, without a fully formed stellar system yet…"
Chu Hao quickly grasped the world's basic information.
Although he could not directly comprehend all the rules, as a Tianding University graduate, he could deduce the world's structure from the rules with relative ease.
"There seem to be a few [Mythical-like Beings] here. Part of the rules haven't transformed into divine powers, but some creatures have learned to utilize them…"
As previously mentioned, creating true mythical beings is something only possible within the divine world of a high-tier god. Most secret realms follow similar constraints.
However, the difficulty of [Mythical-like Beings] is significantly lower.
In secret realms, if rules haven't fully transformed into divine authority, they can be partially utilized by certain intelligent and strong creatures as a source of power.
These beings are far stronger than ordinary creatures and, in some undeveloped secret realms, are easily worshiped as gods by local inhabitants.
Ignorant worship…
However, even as Chu Hao parsed the crystal-wall rules, this world's counterattack had already begun.
For some reason, the world's reaction was much faster than he had expected.
"Crunch… crunch…"
Deep in the jungle, a small chained demon was contentedly gnawing on the corpse of a creature.
Born from the Abyss, it delighted in the flesh of these ordered-world beings.
Soft, non-toxic, sweet—like sugar!
This delicious food drove the small demon to gnaw frenziedly, indulging its desires.
Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the jungle.
The small demon lifted its head, alert.
The next moment, a mysterious arrow, engraved with cryptic symbols, shot through its skull, pinning it to a tumor-covered giant tree.
"Damn monster!"
A strong alien in intricately patterned burlap stepped from the jungle, bow in hand.
Behind him were others like him—some wielded curved blades, others bows, and some held glowing alien skulls of unknown crafting.
The aliens glared in disgust at the demon pinned to the tree.
"Didn't expect this invading cosmic demon to be so grotesque!"
"Yeah, I thought the specimen kept in the big tent was the worst, but this one… even worse!"
The leader didn't chat idly like the others.
He cautiously approached the demon's corpse.
What a twisted, ugly monster! Just seeing it filled him with a terrifying sense of impending corruption and guilt.
For some reason, he didn't even want to look directly at the demon.
It was as if a malevolent thought was spreading through his mind.
He pulled the arrow from the demon's head and let the ground absorb the corpse.
Unexpectedly, the demon instantly dissolved into black, foul-smelling sludge.
Yet, the chain around its neck remained intact.
And…
As the demon's body vanished, the chain was suddenly yanked with immense force.
"Not good!"
The alien leader shouted, but it was too late…
Pairs of crimson eyes gradually appeared deep in the dark jungle.
Exactly in the direction where the chain had disappeared.